Tables Turned
by Skyelight
Summary: [Au SquallxRinoa] The President's son, known to be arrogant and somewhat cold gets introduced to his opposite by fate, on a night that will remain unforgetable to him.
1. Inception

**_Chapter One_**

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**_Just a little longer.._**

   She struggled against her own chest as she tried with all her power to inhale as much air as possible while she was still semi conscious. She could feel a cool sensation running down from her temple reaching all the way to her neck as the liquid gradually seeped into the collar of her white top. People from a fair distance were scrambling around her. She could feel it. 

   Why didn't they come closer? Why were they remaining at the same distance all that time?

   The rain was getting heavier yet this did not bother her for it did not even register in her brain. Her neck. She could feel the immense pressure weighing upon her neck that even in her semi consciousness; she was unable to ignore it. More cool liquid were streaming down her face but it did not matter. Normally, she would have reacted to it, but being in this situation, she was in no place to choose her reactions. 

   She wanted nothing more than to have the pressure and pain taken away from her. She would give anything to erase the agony. And without realization, her eyes were giving up on her. She was finally going to fall into the peaceful realm of slumber. Finally forgetting the pain.

   And just as she thought her consciousness was out of grasp, she felt a hand gripping onto hers. It was warm, much warmer than hers. It brought some kind of unknown comfort to her, and for that split second, she felt safe.  

   Before, she had tried to breath, but now, she was trying to open her eyes to meet the owner of the hand. _Why is it so hard? Just open them. But no matter how hard she tried, it was to no avail. The hand was still clutching onto hers. She could feel the security it brought her. The hand gave her a somewhat reassuring squeeze and she was grateful she sensed it._

   She couldn't hold on much longer. She was simply too exhausted as her life energy was progressively draining from her. She couldn't even open her eyes. Once again, she was slipping back into unconsciousness. Her ears were starting to fail on her and so was her sense of feeling. The hand that once brought her comfort was no longer in her senses anymore. 

   Just before she fell into the world of oblivion… she heard him…

_   "Stay with me.."_

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   Each step of his was long and steady as he confidently strode out of his father's office. His stance was of one which gave off the impression '_Don't mess with me,' _His cold blue eyes was a killer weapon if he wanted it to be, yet it was also one of his charms on women as he could melt the heart of the woman he desired. The hair. Unruly, untamable and sexy would be the must commonly used terms among his female acquaintances. Just like him. 

   He heard his name being continuously cried out for by a very well respected man in Esthar, but he chose to ignore him, just like he always did. His footsteps echoed through the long wide halls as he was once again trying to escape his father's boring pointless lectures. But he knew better. Lecturing him was basically a mere attempt at starting a conversation with him, for lectures were the only ways to establish a 'proper' conversation with him. 

   Choosing to ignore his cry outs, he kept walking until he was suddenly stopped by a smaller frame in front of him. 

   "You shouldn't ignore him like that. He's your dad," 

   "I know he is, and he's also your dad, so what's your point," He knew what he said didn't really make much sense, but he enjoyed watching the exasperated look on his older sister's face.

   He knew her all too well. Ellone gave an annoyed sigh, putting her hands on her hips in a sisterly manner. But this only made him smirk.  

   "My point is, stop giving him a hard time and just _try _to not act like a complete stranger in front of him all the time." Ellone replied, sounding sincere.

   He simply sighed. It was a rhetorical question. He wanted to dismiss her then and there, but then again, this was Ellone. So he simply ran his hand through his unruly hair, a habit he inherited from Laguna every time they were uncertain on how to act or when they were frustrated. 

   Deciding that changing the subject was his best option, he said, "I'm going out now… tell him that for me will ya?"

   "Squall," Ellone whined, "It's pouring outside, it'll be dangerous on the roads." 

   She tried to make up excuses for him to not go out and stay at home, but even _she_ knew that that attempt was not only lame but already used several times before. 

   Squall simply shrugged, "Fine, I'll take a taxi then," he lied, and she knew.

   Giving him an annoyed and loud sigh, she said, "Fine, go and meet Seifer, or Irvine or Zell or _whoever it is, but if it's a female, I'm begging you Squall, **_please_ do not tell me about it,"**_

   Smirking, Squall pecked Ellone on the cheek before making his way out into the coldness and into a random sports car of his. 

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   Ellone was right. It was literally pouring outside. The rain was so heavy, it almost seemed like each droplet was the size of a golf ball, making it appear as though they were leaving dents on his car every time they fell. The wind was unpredictable as it constantly changed its directions, like it was fighting an inner battle on which way to gust. He felt his car rock slightly from side to side as the wind kept blowing endlessly. Maybe taking a taxi wasn't so much of a bad idea after all.

   He was driving at such a slow speed that if it weren't for the weather, people would've beeped and swore at him like mad regardless of the fact that he _is_ the president's son. He took a quick glance through his rear mirror and realized that he was incapable of seeing anything if they weren't right up close to his car. Now, not being able to identify anything far or even close by, the street lights seemed useless as well, but the fact that knowing it was there was somehow relieving. 

   _'Out of all days Seifer just had to choose today to meet up,'_

   That got him thinking. Was Seifer there yet? Were _any _of them there yet? Or was he the only one caught up in this angry storm at the moment. He was '_The Squall Leonhart', never liked to be early or waiting, always enjoyed his grand entrances and being the waited. The attention was always on…_

   But he was suddenly jerked out of his thoughts as he quickly slammed onto his brakes. Because he was unable to see anything clearly in front of him due to the raging rain, it was a last minute thing that he noticed a car a few inches in front of him. He was lucky his tyres were able to grip onto the wet ground in time or else he would've collided into the vehicle ahead of him. Still slightly shocked that he was so close to ending up in a car crash, he simply sat there relieved that he had an excuse for not moving his car along. 

   But after a while, he realized something wasn't right, it couldn't possibly take that long for traffic to discontinue moving. He was about to beep the car in front of him but as a last second thought, he chose not to. The weather was enough; beeping people would only cause them further discomfort. 

   Squall tried to make out what was going on outside with squinted eyes, and his attempt was not in vain. He saw, though far from clearly, people standing besides their car all looking at the same direction and with what looked like umbrellas in their hands. Both patience and curiosity getting the better of him, he reluctantly pushed opened his car door and stepped out into the intense rain and beckoning wind. As a natural reflex, he winced, but not for long. 

   Why had the car in front of him stopped? Why were there people standing outside in this weather? Why had his cold blue eyes suddenly widened without realization?

   All these questions only lead to one answer, and the answer was right in front of his eyes. Car crash, roughly six to eight cars in total. His eyes darted around rapidly to see if anyone were helping or even doing something useful. But all he saw were people in a ghost like state. He couldn't stand there any longer, he couldn't waste anymore time analyzing the dumbfounded beings, so he sprinted past those people and towards the horrific scene. He realized as he was running the splashes he caused, and it brought a shiver running down his spine. 

The once clear blue rain water was now contaminated with a crimson red substance.   

   He scanned the scene ahead of him and immediately knew that a few crashed cars were completely out of his hands. Panic swiftly washing over him; he hastily searched for someone, _anyone he could help. Then it caught his eye. A dark blue or green or black or **whatever **car, had swerved off to the side. His guess was that this car was not part of the crash but also did not notice the pile up in front of it, therefore as a last minute reaction; the driver had turned abruptly to the side, crashing into the tree._

   Squall shook his head roughly.

   _'There's no time to be making assumptions now,'_

He ran over to the vehicle that was crashed against the tree and was relieved that the side that had collided into the thick trunk was the passenger's side, not the driver's side. He looked at the driver's seat and saw a body figure in it. The head, shoulder and right arm were hanging out of the car door where it once had a window to it. Without further ado, he ran to the car door and somewhat hurriedly yet carefully opened the door. 

   Just as the door opened slightly, big enough for his hand to fit in, he quickly held onto the right side of the driver's waist as to prevent them from falling out, and continued to open the door widely. He was highly inexperienced with this, but he wasn't completely clueless. He knew that if he weren't gentle with the person, he could very well kill them by breaking a special bone. 

   As he very gently and slowly pulled the person by the waist out of their car, he got down to his knees and laid the person tentatively on his thighs. Suddenly a thought hit him. _What if this person was already dead? He panicked for a split second but mentally slapped himself for being so stupid. The person in his lap had their eyes slightly closed, but he could still manage to hear their shallow breathing. Not knowing what to do next, he looked around frantically to see if any sign of help was coming, but to his greatest frustration and annoyance, the people were still just standing there, shocked. _

   "What the hell are you all doing?! Call the goddamn ambulance!" the almighty Lion roared.

   The heavy rain was beating ferociously on his back and head as he winced from the throbbing pain. Already he could feel the headache's arrival, and to top it off, his patience with these people were running on a thread. Almost as if someone had suddenly switched their trance-like state to 'off', the large group of people either began taking their cell phones out and calling for help, or mirrored Squall's actions by running to search for survivors. 

   Turning his attention back to the person in his lap, he finally noticed that it was a female that he had been cluelessly helping all this time. She had a long slim frame and her skin was a healthy pale white, although right now, it was stained with blood from the pieces of jagged glass faintly stabbed into her. Her jet black wet hair was sprawled messily across her face, covering most of her facial features. 

   Like feeling her discomfort, he moved his gloved hand towards her face and delicately brushed her hair away. Once removed, it shocked him to see all the blood leaking from various cuts. He knew that the cuts weren't deep enough to leave scars but the amount of blood on her face still got him worrying.

   He could hear her breathing becoming shallower and strained as he saw her chest rising and falling more forcefully now. She moaned softly out of pain and her expressions proved similar. Squall's left arm was held behind her neck, steadying it so it would not cause her any harm while his right arm was simply rested on her outer thigh. Her eyes. He could see her eyes giving way now as he was somehow able to make out from her half closed eyes that her eyeballs were rolling backwards. As a pure reflex, he quickly grabbed onto her hand, hoping that it would keep her conscious and safe for a little longer until actual trained and professional Paramedics came.

   To his disappointment, her eyes remained closed allowing the heavy rain drops to beat upon her face without discomfort. At that moment, he saw the rise and fall of her chest take place again and knew that she had not completely fallen unconscious. Giving her more encouragement to hold on, he squeezed her hand softly and spoke soothingly yet determinedly, "Stay with me..just a little longer" 

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An: Hey guys! Thanks for reading and giving this new fic a try! Tell me what you think about it by leaving a review and it'll be greatly appreciated. Well I hope you enjoyed it!! 

[SasSie GirL]

_Characters and FFVIII belong to Squaresoft_


	2. Reprecussion

**_Chapter Two_**

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**_Blue and Brown_**

Too often do we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile,   
a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment,   
or the smallest act of caring. All of which have the potential to turn a life around.  
                                                                       -_Leo Buscaglia-_

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  A thousand shards of glass penetrated the drunken numbness of my face and neck. In the elongated nanoseconds of the crash I expected an airbag to save me, but it failed to deploy. I was more interested in the pinpoint pains across my face than the shattering of my ribs and rupturing of my internal organs against the unyielding body. I don't recall closing my eyes but I could not see. The blaring of the other vehicles' horns faded and vanished, as did the taste of the blood in my mouth. One by one the small pains at each entry point of glass diminished. I could sense nothing. 

  Then, the nothingness was gone. 

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  Slowly yet cautiously she opened her heavy eyelids. Her vision was as clear as having soft sand blown into her eyes, something she noticed when her eyelids were only half opened. Hoping to rid herself from the blurriness, she tried to lift her right hand up to rub away the fuzziness, but due to the numbness, she realized that her limbs were out of her control. Her entire body felt numb yet at the same time incredibly sore. 

  A soft relieved sigh escaped her lips as she felt the numbness gradually subsiding. She silently decided that she'll simply lie there, staring up at the clean white ceiling, patiently waiting for her body to move again. Her apartment ceiling however, was not white, it was light blue, so without questioning, she knew exactly where she was. Unlike scenes in movies, she knew where she was and what had happened. The only question plaguing her mind was, '_How bad was it?'_

She closed her eyes in concentration, recalling fragments of the incident.

  _The pounding rain. The sudden glare of headlights. The swerving. The crashing. The pain. The hand._

Her eyes opened slowly once again as she remembered the warm hand that held tightly onto hers. She felt like smiling when she memorized the security it brought her, but once again she failed to do so. Her body was too tired and aching that the only thing she felt capable of doing was opening and closing her eyelids. 

  Her eyes were starting to adjust to the soft lighting of the room when all of a sudden; a blinding light filled the whole room. Immediately she winced from the sudden change. She felt her eyes water up as the stinging registered without delay in her brain. Despite having her eyes closed, she was able to feel the change of temperature in the room. Warmth. Just like the feeling she had when that hand grasped onto hers. The right side of her lips twitched upwards without realization when she once again thought of that hand. But before she was able to dwell on the thought any further, she was jerked out of her contemplation by a familiar voice echoing in the room. 

  "Hey, you've awaken, how do you feel?" The soft voice asked her.

  Knowing now that she was able to do more than just controlling the movement of her eyes, her raspy voice choked out, "Sore,"

  She heard her visitor giggle softly before replying, "Yeah, that was expected. The doctor said that you'll be fine, but your body will be quite sore for a few days.  Consider yourself lucky Rin," she paused for a second before continuing in a more serious tone, "Some weren't as lucky as you. I checked them out before; some didn't even make it through the night."

  Some. Yes that's right, there were more than just two cars in the car crash, meaning that there were probably a couple more people rushed into this very same hospital. The thought of that reassuring hand disappeared from her mind in a flash. She closed her eyes thanking Hyne that she not only made it out alive, but her worst injuries were mere scratches and aches. Something that could not even compare to death. Her heart felt for the families for the more unfortunate people. She felt sadness overcome her as the memories of last night flashed through her eyes once again. No matter what one did, no one deserved death. And now, not only were these people innocent, they probably had a loving family or a bright future ahead of them. 

  Anger took over Rinoa as more thoughts entered her head. How could fate be so unfair to these people? What have they done to earn such cruel punishment? But her anger disappeared as fast as water running down a tap. Who was there to blame? It wasn't like someone actually held up a knife and killed these people. It was the weather and the lack of alertness. It was Mother Nature. 

  She released a sad sigh, gradually opening her eyes when she realized that she had momentarily forgotten about her visitor. Doing her best, she smiled softly, "Thanks Quistis."

  The blonde sitting beside her bed gave her a questioning look, silently asking Rinoa _'For what?' _

 Knowing what she meant, Rinoa explained, "For being here,"

  Quistis Trepe gave a soft laugh in understanding, saying, "Oh, I guess you're lucky that I'm a light sleeper,"

  It was Rinoa's turn to look confused. Quistis continued, "The rain was so loud I couldn't sleep so I switched on the TV hoping to tire my eyes out. That was when every channel I switched to showed the accident you were in."

  Rinoa furrowed her brows slightly, "Quistis, it was eight something, why would you go to sleep at that time? And there were news reporters there already?" her hoarse voice asked slowly.

  "Firstly, it was nine to be exact. Secondly, duh they'd be news reporters there already. I mean think about it, that's going to be like the top story for the month. Every news reporter wants a piece of it,"

  Rinoa grimaced slightly at her answer. An accident this serious was nothing to be excited about. Deaths were caused. Injuries were caused. Fine, it was okay to be the top story or whatever, but the fact that reporters raced there to get 'a piece of it,' as Quistis had put it, was simply for their own benefits. To boost their ratings, to gain more money. Overall, Rinoa had a certain disliking towards reporters. 

  "And thirdly, I was supposed to attend an interview for a job I applied for weeks ago today, so I figured going to sleep early wouldn't hurt." Quistis finished.

  Rinoa's eyes widened a bit, "Please don't tell me I made you miss the interview," again, asking at a very slow rate as the numbness had not fully gone. Her eyes showed how apologetic she was, assuming that she was correct.  

  Quistis shook her head faintly, "Don't flatter yourself Rin. My life does not revolve around you." Quistis spoke with a rather serious tone, but Rinoa was able to detect hints of sarcasm.

  "So, you went to the interview right?" Rinoa needed reassurance.

  And that was what Quistis gave her, "Yes," she lied.

  Truth be told, Quistis had not attended her job interview. It wasn't because she did not have enough time or she lacked rest, it was because of Rinoa. It was a dilemma between going to the long awaited interview, or staying by a friend's side while she was in such a state. After pacing around the room countless times, she chose the latter.  That's not to say that she never had second thoughts of staying. Every time she glanced at the clock and realized that she would still make it in time to the interview, she was tempted to leave.

  _'If you've got true talents, no matter where you go, no matter who you're with, you'll never remain jobless for long.'_

That is one of many of Quistis' theories. 

  "Hyne, where are the doctors?" Quistis asked in slight annoyance.

  As if on cue, a short stubby man in a white doctor's coat came in with a clip board held tightly by his left arm. He had glasses resting on the brim of his nose and he wore a friendly smile on his face. He reminded Rinoa greatly of Cid. 

  "Ah, Miss Heartilly, I see that you're awake now. How do you feel? Any headaches?" He asked in the tone many doctors used. The 'suppose-to-be-soothing' voice yet sounding like they're almost falling asleep.  

  "No," Rinoa's raspy voice choked out, "Just sore… and numb."

  The doctor chuckled softly, "Yes, that's not a surprise. I'm quite sure the numbness will leave within minutes. You were only unconscious for a night. Now, do you remember what happened last night?" 

  "Yes." was the simple yet blunt reply Rinoa gave him. It was obvious she preferred not talking about it and the look-alike Cid understood. It wasn't at all a pleasant memory. Numerous unconscious people stained with blood rushed into the hospital. Family members waiting anxiously for results. Seeing death happen in front of you. Not a pleasant memory at all. And it's sad to say, but truth is, after time, doctors get used to it.

  "Well then, can you please tell me your age Miss Heartilly?" He asked. He needed to be sure that the car crash had not affected her memory, and given that short answer before was simply not enough.  

  "I'm 22 years old doctor,"

  "Doctor Russ. Well despite your soreness and a few cuts, there's nothing wrong with you. After I had a body check up on you last night, results show no sign of any injuries or broken bones. Therefore it is highly possible that you were rendered unconscious due to having your head hit onto something hard or solid. But judging by the numerous cuts on your face, I am guessing that your head probably made firm contact with your side window. So good news is, you may leave when you feel like you can, but you can also stay one more night if you feel that your muscles aren't co-operating. Just go to the reception and sign out."

  With a final nod and a friendly smile, Doctor Russ was about to leave the room but stopped when he heard Rinoa call for him. He turned around, hand still on the door knob and waited for Rinoa to speak.

  "Yesterday, after the car crash, someone helped me out of the car. I was wondering by any chance, if you saw that person." 

  Doctor Russ held his chin with his index finger and thumb, pondering on that question. "No, I don't think so. When the ambulance arrived, you were the only person in it. No one else was accompanying you." With that said, he finally left. 

  Rinoa closed her eyes in disappointment. She was really hoping that she'd get a chance to thank that person. But now, she was starting to have doubts if that hand even existed. Was it just her hallucination? Then she remembered. The voice. That voice, she would never forget those words and voice that kept her going for a little longer. She was lucky that someone, no, a man, the voice told her it was a man, was by her side helping her during all the pain. Wait, the doctor said she would be okay, but what about her shattered ribs and ruptured internal organs? Just scratches? Is this doctor an imposter or something?

  "Quistis, what about my ribs and organs?" The question sounded stupid but Rinoa was too tired to rephrase herself.

  "Um, what about them?" 

  "Well, I'm pretty sure my ribs are broken and there are damage done to my organs,"

  Quistis laughed at her over exaggeration, "Rin, you were in a car crash, it might've felt like that, but seriously, the worst injury you've got is that gash on your temple. I'm pretty sure it won't leave a scar, but even if it does, your hair will cover it." 

  _'You bet it felt like it!'_

  Nonetheless, Rinoa nodded and breathed a sigh of relief. For the third time today, she was thankful, and as far as Quistis could see, her warm brown orbs showed the same. 

  "So, we leaving later or not?"

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  "For the sixth time, I don't know what happened," Ellone sighed, trying in vain to eat her lunch while Laguna kept questioning her. 

  The weather had unexpectedly decided to take everyone by surprise by providing the whole of Esthar a cloudless sky and an eye piercing sun. Seagulls were soaring high above the palace as Laguna and Ellone had decided to eat lunch in one of the several gardens in the palace. If it'd been not the disturbing incident yesterday night, Ellone would've found the sudden change and difference of the weather in a way, amusing. _Cold and dangerous to warm and alive. Little did she know the irony within it. _

  By reading Laguna's facial expression, Ellone knew that there were still many questions pestering him. Sighing for the umpteenth time that afternoon, Ellone swallowed her ham and salad sandwich and said, "Look, why don't you just wait until Squall wakes up and then ask _him,"_

  "You bet I will!" Laguna half yelled half said.  Ellone simply shook her head and continued with her sandwich.

  Not even a whole two minutes had gone by and he had started talking again, this time in a hushed tone, "But what if he doesn't want-," however, before he was able to finish his sentence, he was interrupted by a monotonous voice.    

  "Morning,"

  Laguna jumped up from his chair, surprised and startled, "Morning," he once again half yelled and half said, hopelessly trying to hide his nervousness.

  The new arrival stopped in his tracks, raising his left eyebrow at Laguna as Laguna slowly retreated back onto his chair, his face slightly flushed.

  _"Afternoon _to you too!" Ellone corrected the both of them. She covered her mouth attempting to conceal her fits of giggles. One moment Laguna was acting all macho like, the next, he looked like a kid caught with their hand in the cookie jar. The effect Squall had on him was, well, amusing.. sometimes. 

  The tall brunette uncaringly strode over to the vacant chair next to Ellone and sat himself down as a random maid placed his lunch in front of him. He effortlessly mumbled his appreciation while quickly taking a bite out of his roll. The sun remained shining dazzlingly down onto the garden where the trio sat themselves in as the seagulls continued flying around. Squall winced up at the Seagulls and slightly glared at them. Hyne did he hate the noises they made. He continued silently glaring at the yellowed beak animals, mentally hoping that they would just leave him in peace. 

  "What? Don't you like this weather?" Ellone asked.

  "No, just don't like the noise," Squall replied, eyeing the seagulls. 

  "Sure," Ellone responded, obviously not convinced. "Squall, dad wants to ask you something." She smiled evilly. 

  Dad. A word so foreign to him yet so easily spoken out by Ellone. Sometimes he wished that he could be nicer to this man sitting in front of him, but the things he does just triggers his annoyance. He was glad that Laguna didn't take everything to heart, or so he thought, but then again, his cold demeanor was nothing to be surprised about. It was basically him. 

  Squall reluctantly diverted his attention to Laguna, hoping against hope that he wasn't going to say something stupid or something that would annoy him. Even if no one knew it, Squall didn't particularly enjoy being mean to his own father, he just couldn't help it. 

  "Yes?" Squall asked.

  "Um," choosing his words wisely, "Seifer called your cell phone last night, said you hadn't arrived yet. I'm guessing you were supposed to meet up with him last night?" 

  Sighing, Squall ran his fingers through his unruly hair, a gesture highly contagious as Laguna also sub-consciously moved his hand though his black hair. Ellone noticed this straight away and did not even try to suppress her laughter. In unison, the father and son looked at Ellone with confusion evident on both of their faces. The giggles, however, did not subside; instead, she eyed the both of them. Turning around to look at what Ellone was hinting at, Squall and Laguna both realized that _both their hands were still mid-way in their hair. They understood instantly and almost immediately retreated back their hands away from their hair. _

  Ignoring what just happened, and at the same time wondering why he didn't realize that he had left his cell phone behind up until now, Squall started to explain, "I'm sure you either would've heard or seen the car pile up yesterday right?"

  Squall knew the media and press all too well. To his disliking, a little too well. 

  Immediately, Ellone stopped her soft giggles and in exchange her eyes widened in shock. "You were there, weren't you?" It was more of a statement than a question, nonetheless Squall nodded.

  "I didn't end up meeting Seifer and co. because not only did traffic stop, I was there… helping." Squall summarized. 

  The shorter frame sitting beside him gave a soft gasp, "You weren't just caught up in the traffic. You were actually there?" again, it was said more like a statement than a question. 

  "Yeah, after the ambulances came, _finally, there was major traffic jam, so I was stuck there for about two hours,"_

  Ellone wondered why Squall had not hopped into the ambulance as well if what he said was true, that he was helping. Ellone knew exactly what he meant by helping, he just didn't know how to express it clearly. He was probably in the pouring rain all that time; he may have_ very well gotten himself seriously sick. But then again, knowing Squall, it was obvious that he would not jump into the ambulance with a complete stranger or even more, he would not admit that he needed help. Of course this was generally speaking. _

  "Well, if you're both done with me," Squall said, placing his half eaten roll down on his plate, "I have some where to be." And with that, Squall got up from his chair and began making his way along the footpaths back to the palace. Laguna and Ellone remained silent.

  Upon arriving to the few marble steps and large sliding glass doors, Squall turned around and took one more look at the weather. His cold blue orbs looked up into the sky and he smiled lightly. 

  Even if no one knew..

  Squall Leonhart liked the warm weather. 

                                                          * * *

An: Well there's chapter two for you guys! Not much going on there but I hope you guys weren't really expecting that. Anyway, thank-you so much for the kind reviews and emails, I really appreciate it. They're extremely encouraging so keep them coming!

Just a quick thanks to the people who also reviewed my other fic. You guys are great!

[SkyeLight] 

lil_ole_meh@hotmail.com

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	3. Beginning

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**_Chapter Three_**

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**_The definition of 'Friend'_**

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Real generosity is doing something nice

for someone who will never find out

                   _-Frank A. Clark-_

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  The unexpected transformation of the weather surprised the residents of Esthar beyond belief. Or maybe it was just the fact that the night before had convinced them that the rain and wind was so determined to stay, that everyone had forgotten Spring had already made its entrance… three weeks ago. But if one just sat down to think about it, they would then begin to understand that it wasn't the sudden change of weather that took them by surprise, it was more so of the fact that Spring was able to gain back control and complete its task, once again bringing sunshine to the people of Esthar. 

  The birds flew around carelessly, speaking to their own kind in a language only they understood. The children ran around with other children, not caring about the fact that they were strangers to one another and that their mini jeans were giving them the biggest 'wedgie' of all time. Mothers sat back on benches, chatting mindlessly to long-time-no-see friends, or maybe even just passing acquaintances. Just anything that gave them an excuse to stay outside and embrace the warm weather that Hyne had so generously given them.

  Everything was simply peaceful and content, well maybe not _exactly _peaceful with all the exciting screams from the kids and the enthusiastic laughter, but overall, everything was good. 

  But just like all parties, there always had to be a party pooper, just like all bags of chips, there was always one that was overly burnt. 

  "You.. Are.. The BIGGEST LYING BASTARD I HAVE EVER MET!" Her high pitched voice caused on-lookers to wince slightly from the shrillness. She had long black hair that reached the middle of her back with a mini skirt and a flimsy top that allowed nothing to the imagination department.  

  The tall blonde sitting on the bench looked up at the girl towering over him and gave her his best innocent puppy look. "Sarah babe, what are you talking about? Here, come sit down with me and we'll talk it over." He patted the empty space next to him, motioning for her to sit down. 

  "Oh please, don't give me that look for Hyne's sake! It doesn't work anymore! I saw you!" 

  The blonde kept going with his charade, "Saw me? Saw me where? Look Sarah, just calm down. We can work this out right now and right here, unless,"

  "Unless what!" Sarah snapped.

  He smirked, "Unless of course you'd prefer to go back to my apartment and settle things in my bedroom." Just as he finished, he was greeted with a loud slap across his face.

  "You never learn do you?" she hissed, while he cupped his left pink cheek with his hand, the word 'surprised' written all over his face. 

  "Good-bye and good riddance to you Seifer!" and with that, she strode off in her red stilettos, purposely swaying her hips from side to side. 

  Seifer sat their speechless. It wasn't like he had never been slapped before in his life, and it wasn't like he had never been dumped by a girl. But every time it happened, it never failed to surprise him. 

  "You know, you can get your arse out here now!" Seifer mumbled as he cautiously rubbed his cheek. 

  Without looking, he felt the presence of the other person taking up the spare space on the bench next to him. "So how was it?"

  Smirking and understanding completely what he just meant, Squall answered, "It was… satisfying to watch."

  Seifer turned around and glared at him, "Ha ha, funny puberty boy. Lets see you getting slapped and _then_ you tell me how satisfying it was." 

  Puberty boy, a nickname labeled to Squall ever since he turned eleven. Such a thoughtful nickname was made up by none other than Seifer himself. Over the years that they have been friends, no, 'friends' just wasn't the best term to describe them. 'Friends' was just a quick and simple answer to dismiss people who asked them how they knew each other. Truthfully, even they weren't quite sure how they would be categorized.

  'Best friends' was quite out of line, 'enemies' was a definite no-no, yet 'friends' just didn't sound right. Squall and Seifer were what you would call, night and day, hot and cold. They were complete opposites to each other and that is most likely the reason why they have remained to be what they are now. The closest thing they have in common is that they are both probably very good friends with 'Sarcasm.' 

  When they were no older than eight year olds, they played with each other… in a bullying type of manner. Throughout all their years in Balamb Garden, they helped each other… through blackmailing. And now with Squall being 23 and Seifer being 24, they spoke to each other… through insults or sarcasm. Even though a lot had changed over the past years for the brunette and the blonde, one thing remained the same, their mutual understanding for each other. 

  Squall merely shrugged. He leaned back onto the bench as he placed his hands behind his head. Closing his eyes, he began to feel the heat upon his face as the soft wind subtly tickled his face. His hearing was extra attentive with his eyes shut; therefore he was able to hear Seifer still mumbling a string of curses about the incident minutes ago. 

  Reluctantly, Squall opened his eyes, "Seifer, do you know what I've finally noticed about you after all these long and stressful years of being your _friend_?" he asked, looking at Seifer now.

  The taller blonde next to him smirked, "And what is that?"

  "That you choose shit times to meet up and shit places to meet up! Look at us; we're two grown men sitting in a park.  People are gonna thing that we're a gay couple or something." 

  Seifer's smirked not only did not disappear, it widened. Putting on a husky voice he used only for women, he leaned closer to Squall, "Now, wouldn't you want that Squally boy," 

  Squall sat there, quite frankly not giving a shit with what Seifer was doing since he was already used to his absurd behavior. "Piss off Seifer!"

  Leaning back as though nothing had happened, Seifer retorted, "Hah! You wish Squall, I have my standards, and I'm sorry to say, you don't meet it!"

  Squall got up from the bench as he felt that the conversation wasn't leading anywhere, "Yes, and now I'm gonna go home and start crying like a sissy, then I'm not gonna eat and make up dull excuses like _'I'm not hungry.' _And then I'll probably fly off to some unknown place and never be heard or seen of again." Squall said, his face straight and his voice monotonous. "So I'm guessing only ladies with mini skirts, a top that could practically rip apart by a simple touch and a big arse could meet your standards."

  Smirking as he matched Squall's action, he replied, "I'll surprise you one day, just you wait." Spotting Squall's sports car once he was standing to his fullest height, he began making his way towards it.

  "Whatever, so what do you want?" Squall asked as he remembered suddenly why he was spending his free day here with Seifer.

  "Long story, I'll tell you in the car. So I heard that you were caught in that traffic jam during that car pile up." 

  Squall raised one of his eyebrows, "Thanks to you. How did you find out so quickly?" 

  "Um, Zell," Seifer replied as if it was the most obvious thing on earth.

  "Um, what about Zell?" Squall countered as if informing him it's _not_ the most obvious thing on earth. 

  "Um, Ell,"

  "Goddamn it Seifer, just tell me,"

  Seifer sighed in annoyance as he stopped in his tracks, "Ell and Zell, of course Zell would know, their names rhyme! How obvious is that?"

  The brunette rolled his eyes at his stupidity, not quite sure why he also stopped walking just to listen to Seifer's rambling, "Oh really, I never knew their names rhymed." Sarcasm heavily detected.

  "Squall, you must be blind to not see what's going on between your sis and Zell," With that summarized, Seifer walked off ahead of Squall as he stood there and absorbed the new information. 

  _'Well that explains why Ellone practically trips to get to the phone first.'_

Snapping out of his thoughts, he jogged up to catch up with Seifer, "So, what _did _she see Seifer?"

  The blonde next to him snickered, "I don't think you'd want to get me started."

  "Agree."

                                           ------------------------------

  "Quistis, can you find it!" Rinoa cried, nothing else detected in her voice besides panic. 

  There was a pause. "No, I can't. I've tried your Kitchen all the way to your Bathroom, but I still can't find it." 

  As tired as Quistis was, she didn't really want to show it, yet at the same time she did for the sake of taking a break. They had been searching for over two hours, but to Rinoa's disappointment, they weren't even close to finding it. Rinoa had stopped half way after Quistis had insisted that she would help her do all the searching while she rested. 

  Quistis tiredly plopped her long slim frame on the couch causing tiny specks of dust to float around the small living room. Her limbs were exhausted from the amount of positions she forced herself to be in from searching all over the apartment for that small object. From underneath the bed to the top of the fridge, Quistis had searched high and low for it. She wanted nothing better than to simply sit down and have a rest, but then again, she knew how important this object was to Rinoa and understood that Rinoa was in a very desperate situation. Two dilemmas in a day. Oh the joy. 

  Therefore, not knowing whether to convince Rinoa that she was tired or whether to act as though she was still up for looking for this particular object, Quistis simply sat there and allowed Rinoa to decide. Whatever it was, the blonde was happy to oblige. 

  Depressingly allowing her smaller frame to fall beside Quistis, Rinoa sighed out loud, as once again causing the dust from the couch to spring upwards. To Quistis, Rinoa had made her decision, and that was generously permitting her to take a break. There was silence for a while as they both watched the tiny flecks of dust dance around along the stream of sunlight shining through the window in the living room. Happy that she was finally able to take a break since the night before when she saw the news and fled through her own apartment door, she turned around to face the Raven haired girl next to her.

  But as soon as she did, she wished she hadn't. Immediately, Quistis was able to tell from Rinoa's expression that this missing object meant a lot to Rinoa, and she knew it, _all along_. But somewhere and something in Quistis, she had tried to block that reminder from her, tried to ignore the signs. She couldn't help but allow the guilt to consume her. Knowing and accepting the importance of this object meant more than just not getting a break. It meant _much_ more. 

  Quistis was tired, tired after all those years. And now, after this object went missing, it was almost like an indication that what Quistis and many others had tried to conclude, was once again going to repeat itself. Wanting a break was what Quistis forced herself to want. She forced herself to believe that she was exhausted; she _wanted _to believe that she was tired. But as much as Quistis hated to admit, she somehow knew she couldn't avoid it anymore. _Rinoa couldn't avoid it anymore_.

  "Hey, cheer up. Maybe you left it at the café and Amy picked it up for you." Quistis tested.

  "No, I know it's not at the café," Rinoa replied softly yet sounding very certain.

  Quistis frowned slightly, "How can you be so sure?"

  Once Rinoa glanced over at Quistis, and hastily averted her gaze on some random object, Quistis sighed silently to herself. Those brown orbs. Quistis loved her brown orbs, it showed so much warmth. But now, she _wished _she loved them. Rinoa was not one to betray, but her eyes betrayed her. The look that Quistis caught a glimpse of before, confirmed everything. Years of being Rinoa's closest friend didn't just flow down the drain. The confirmation had rid the blonde from all hopes of what was now known to Quistis as the 'inevitable.'

  "I," she paused, "Because I don't remember bringing it with me yesterday. I'm, I'm sure I left it at home." There was a great amount of uncertainty in her voice when she said that line of words. 

  "Okay." Quistis replied, "We'll keep looking for it later." But she didn't give up that easily. She didn't _want _to give up yet. If only she was able to make Rinoa believe what she tried so desperately to believe or make _her _believe, then everything would be fine. 

  _Fine. _That word had not existed for Rinoa for many years now. It did not exist in her vocabulary, it didn't exist in her mind… and it didn't exist for _her_.

  "Actually, don't worry about it. I-I think I just left it at someone's house." Rinoa said, almost as if she had _just_ realized that searching her entire apartment would lead nowhere anyway.

  Quistis hid the disappointment in her failure of her lame attempt of trying to avoid 'it'. But sub-consciously Quistis frowned. Not an angry frown, a frown that expressed worry and discomfort. She hid it immediately when she noticed Rinoa looking at her and gave Rinoa her best fake smile. 

  "Okay. I hope you find it there then."  

  Rinoa merely nodded. 

  _'Rinoa, I really hope you've given up on what I'm thinking this is all related to.'_

                                              ------------------------------

  The once powerful sun was now replaced by a full moon as darkness had fully consumed Esthar. The night air was warm as the wind softly carried the thin white curtains situated at the entrance of the balcony. While the wind separated the curtains, the brightness of the moon was able to make its way into the room, illuminating a small fraction of the large bedroom.  

  The double doors of the bedroom creaked opened loudly as a tall silhouette walked in without bothering to switch on the lights and without bothering to keep it quiet since it _was_ already well past 12. Closing the doors with a careless crash, Squall walked over to the balcony, not caring about the noise he just made. Not that it mattered anyway seeing that his bedroom was practically _miles _away from Ellone's and Laguna's. 

  He leaned over the balcony, taking in the beauty of the peace and quietness of the land that he would one day own. From where Squall stood, he was able to overlook the main garden in the Palace. A soft tired sigh escaped his lips as he ran his right bare handthrough his unruly bangs. The newly registered information Seifer provided him with was definitely something he did not need right now, or ever. Left with his own thoughts, Squall recalled the facts Seifer had given him.      

  _"The little midget was spotted on the outskirts of Esthar recently…"_

_  "He's kept it really low; word says he's been wondering around Esthar for a while now…"_

_  "Heard he's got something up his sleeves again…"_

  Squall remembered the disgust he felt when he heard that.

  _"The cunning little bastard has returned."_

Squall rubbed his eyes as sleep was starting to catch up with him. Pushing himself off the balcony, he made his way into his bedroom, leaving the glass doors opened as he found the cool wind soothing. Using the brightness of the moon as his source of light, he easily walked over to his bedside night light and switched it on. 

  All of a sudden feeling very tired, he quickly undressed and uncaringly chucked his clothing to the side. As a habit, he was about to take his gloves off when it hit him that he wasn't wearing any. He stared down at his hands for while, wondering why he had forgotten to wear gloves with that outfit that consisted of his leather pants, leather jacket and white t-shirt. As much as it got him thinking, he had to drop it for the time being for his eyelids were threatening to give in. 

  Squall had never forgotten to wear his gloves, and now that he did forget, it really got him thinking. There must have been something that stopped him from wearing it, but what? He tried to remember, but his brain defied against him as it demanded rest. He had no choice but to leave it until tomorrow, so he walked over to the side of his king sized bed in his boxer shorts and climbed on before switching off the bedside lights. 

  A bright spark flashed across his mind before sleep claimed him.

                                                         * * *

An: Thank you so much for the reviews, they are unbelievably encouraging and heartening. I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please leave a review and tell me what you think about it and it'll be greatly appreciated. Thank-you.

[SkyeLight]

lil_ole_meh@hotmail.com 


	4. Business

**_Chapter 4_**

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**_Dad, General or Uncle?_****__**

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****

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If you find a path with no obstacles, 

it probably doesn't lead anywhere.

                  _-Anonymous- _

                                        -------------------------------

  The little alarm clock greeted Rinoa with an ear piercing ring as it announced the beginning of a new day. It rightfully earned itself a careless knock-over before it fell to the carpet of Rinoa's small bedroom. Normally she would've awarded the clock with a pat on the head to stop it from causing her eardrums any damage, and then she would do her daily routine, brush her teeth, do her hair, apply soft make-up, get changed, eat a small breakfast and off to work she goes. But not today. Not when she only had two hours of sleep. 

  The missing object plagued her mind throughout the whole night. She wished she could just forget about it and allow herself a break, but she couldn't. Forgetting about it only meant she was giving up, losing hope, and so for that reason, she unconsciously forced herself to remember, forced herself to think about it even if it meant great discomfort. 

  During the night, Rinoa had tossed and turned but nothing seemed to bring her any comfort. It was only until when dawn was approaching did Rinoa drift off into an uneasy sleep. 

  Rinoa groaned loudly in annoyance as the constant ringing of the door bell would not come to an end. Therefore giving in to the fact that she wasn't allowed to sleep in, she groggily got out of her bed and hastily threw on something to cover her silk nightgown. Mumbling incoherent words, she walked past the kitchen to the door with her arms folded across her chest, a futile attempt of blocking out the chilliness of an early spring morning. 

  Upon reaching her destination, she tiredly opened the door to find herself facing a tall young man with a buttoned up t-shirt tucked neatly in his shorts. He had a cap on with small words that Rinoa was able to make out as 'Esthar's Postal Express.' He wore an enthusiastic smile on his face once he saw Rinoa.

  "Good morning ma'am! There's a package here for Rinoa Heartilly!" he greeted happily.

  Rinoa stood there stunned. How the hell could someone be so cheery at this hour? "It's 7.30 in the morning." She hissed, even though she hadn't meant to.

  The delivery guy laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head, "Uh, yeah I know. Sorry about that! But can you believe it, there was no one on this list with their last names ending any letter before 'H', so you were on the top of the list," he pointed to his cap, "And this is Esthar's best express postal!" He had resumed back to his cheerfulness. 

  Rinoa sighed. This guy was only doing his job; there were no reasons to hold a grudge against him for interrupting her sleep _even _if it was 7.30 _am__. _

  "I'm Rinoa Heartilly; do I have to sign anything?" Rinoa said, as she politely grabbed the thin box.

  "Um yes, just here thanks!" he pointed on the sheet attached on the clipboard.

  Placing the pen on the clipboard, Rinoa handed it back to the delivery guy and smiled kindly at him before biding him goodbye and closing the door. In a way, Rinoa kind of admired the cheerfulness he had. Not a care or worry in the world, just doing his job. And plus, his first reaction wasn't running away at the sight, because let's face it; Rinoa was _not _a pretty sight when she just woke up and in addition to it, when she was annoyed. Rinoa softly giggled to herself wondering just how bad she looked at the moment. 

  She casually threw the light box down on one of her sofas as she made her way into the bathroom. She had come to the decision of calling in sick today even though the aftermath of the car crash felt simply like a bad night's rest.

  _'Amy wouldn't mind!'_

Once again, Rinoa giggled to herself as she thought of how she looked at the moment without her teeth brushed, face washed and hair combed.

  Unknown to herself, that simple delivery young man had helped her temporarily ease the plague. 

                                                -------------------------------

  Squall stared blankly at the table, not a word of what Laguna was saying registered in his mind. It was probably just the same old usual status report on Esthar. How the people were doing. How the improvements in the hospitals were going. What tunes the birds were singing today. Hyne did he find these one on one weekly meetings unproductive. 

  He glanced up at him to see if he had finished his useless babbling, but was disappointed to see that Laguna was still intently staring at the piece of white paper in front of him. So the only thing left for Squall to do was resuming back to counting the lines on the wooden table. 

  "There have been dramatic changes in the hospitals. More equipment has been added and I'm planning to extend the Esthar Hospital. What do you think about that?" Laguna looked up from the white piece of paper only to find Squall sitting in his expensive working outfit of a black suit, a navy blue shirt and tie staring at his table. 

  "Squall?"

  The brunette looked up to the sound of his name and found Laguna looking at him like he was expecting an answer or something along those lines. As much as he found it unimportant, Squall didn't want Laguna to feel as though what he was saying was complete rubbish. So the only word he figured was most appropriate for this situation was, "Whatever."

  "Great! Well then that's settled, I guess we can call it quits for today." Laguna announced, not quite speaking the way he would in the monthly meetings with representatives from elsewhere. 

  "Not quite yet sir."

  Immediately Laguna waved his hand in the air, "Laguna will do." He corrected. He understood that Squall was still having difficulties with the terms 'dad' and 'father', so at the time being, 'Laguna' _will have to do. _

  Ignoring the interruption, Squall cut straight to the point as he was beginning to get into his business form. "There has been suspicion of Odine lingering on the outskirts of Esthar. As I only found out about this yesterday, I was unable to do any follow ups yet."

  "Suspicion, Squall, it may only be rumors."

  "Sir, this should not be taken lightly. Even so, we have nothing to confirm that he is _not _back. We must take action; he is not a friendly man. He is dangerous." There was silence as Laguna was mentally contemplating everything Squall was saying. "Also, it's been said that he is back with a purpose. We cannot take the risk." Squall concluded firmly.

  Laguna sighed; everything Squall said was right. He himself had heard of rumors dealing with Odine. He knew Odine was definitely someone **not **to be taken lightly. He knew everything. But where was the evidence? "Have you got anything to support this then?"

  Squall looked the other direction, hating to admit defeat. "No."

  All this information was from Seifer, but he believed Seifer. He was one to bullshit a lot, but he was not one to lie. He had his connections through ways that Squall chose to remain oblivious about. 

  "Okay." Laguna said softly, and then in a firm voice continued, "I advise you to follow up on this. And if you do find something supportive, then I can assure you, action will be taken. Until then, there is nothing we can do about it as it is completely out of our hands." Laguna had not meant it, but sometimes, Squall caused him to take business mode as well. "Meeting adjourned."

  Slightly agitated, Squall got up from his chair and began making his way out of Laguna's office. 

  "Squall," Laguna had resumed back to his fatherly tone. The tall brunette paused, but did not bother to turn his full body around, just his head. 

  "The yearly ball is on next week. I um… Are you going?" Laguna held his breath.

  There was a pause. "I'll have to check my schedule. I'll get Margaret to inform you once it's confirmed." And with that, Squall left the room.

  Squall knew it was a stupid excuse. There was no way in hell that he would be busy on that night seeing that presidents and representatives were attending this ball from Deling, Timber, you name it. So in other words, everyone was going to this ball, everyone who mattered so to speak. For Hyne's sake, even Seifer was invited, and that's saying a lot. 

  Till this very day, Squall still found difficulty at understanding how in Hyne's name Seifer had become commander of Balamb Garden. What kind of dimwitted, brainless idiot would elect someone who was so proud, cocky, a complete smart arse and someone who knew how to fight and use the gunblade just like Squall Leonhart? Well that was easy, everyone did.

  However, if it weren't for Squall's departure one year before both were qualified and old enough to become a Commander, Squall would've easily gotten the position instead. 

  The brunette continued walking down the halls of the 'working area' of the palace, chuckling to himself when he remembered the look of shock, disgust and fright all mixed together to form on Seifer's facial expression when he heard of the news. The look on his face was absolutely priceless and Squall regretted that he wasn't holding a camera with him at that moment. As much as Seifer hated the job, Squall had to admit, he still did pretty good with it despite the continuous firing and flirting. 

  As Squall kept walking, he noticed the people who worked for him rummaging around making the place look as chaotic as hell. Phones were ringing off the hook, fingers were typing madly on keyboards, workers were yelling out words that were basically drowned out by all the miscellaneous noises around them and papers were scattered messily on tables. But Squall was used to it. This was after all his department. He heard many voices formerly greeting him as he walked through the sliding doors but was immediately muted when the sliding closed behind him. 

  Upon seeing his arrival, his secretary instantly stood up to greet him. "Morning Mr. Leonhart!" she cheerfully chirped. The blonde haired woman was about in her mid thirties and had been working as Squall's secretary for over four years, breaking all records considering that Squall's previous secretaries didn't even last for four months. She, unlike the others, knew how to adjust to Squall's moods. 

  "Morning Margaret." Squall muttered.

  She smiled, "Have a nice chat with President Loire huh? Anyway, a representative form Deling City called in not so long ago. He left a message saying-,"

  Before she could finish, Squall waved his hand up and interrupted her, "Was it important?"

  Margaret paused for a little while before smiling understandingly, "No."

  The tall brunette nodded as he proceeded to walk past his opened double doors, making his way into his large office. He sat down on his chair awaiting another long boring day of work.

                                        ---------------------------------

  "Coming!" Rinoa called out as she hastily walked to the door.

  _'Not one of those survey people please.' _

  To her delight, she opened the door to a familiar face instead of one of those annoying persistent surveyors.

  "Quistis! Come in. How'd you know I was at home?" Rinoa moved out of the door way, allowing her visitor space to walk inside. 

  "I called Amy, she said you called in sick so I assumed that you were most likely bullshitting therefore I decided to come over. I prove my point." Quistis finished, smiling as she lifted an eyebrow.

  "Okay okay, so I lied, but don't forget, I just left the hospital yesterday. Give an innocent girl a break alright?"

  Quistis giggled, shaking her head, "Innocent, right, good one Rin." She said, sitting herself down on one of the light yellow couches.

  "Whatever, want something to drink?" Rinoa asked, walking into the kitchen.

  "Actually no. Hey Rin, what's this?" Quistis asked as she lifted up the light thin box.

  Rinoa turned around from the kitchen to look at what her blonde friend was talking about. "I don't know; open it for me will ya?" Rinoa asked as she continued making herself a cup of coffee. 

  Quistis simply shrugged and did what Rinoa asked her to do. She delicately ripped off the tape and opened the lid of the box. However, once she caught a glimpse of a letter addressed to Rinoa placed on top of something that was wrapped up in tissue paper, she quickly closed it.

  "Um, maybe you should open it yourself."

  Rinoa turned around, looking slightly confused but she did not bother to ask why Quistis had stopped. She walked over to the lounge, coffee in her right hand as she placed it gently on the coffee table. Quistis handed her the thin box silently as if it were something highly confidential. 

  The raven haired girl lifted the lid off and immediately understood why Quistis had stopped. That writing, it was too familiar to her, so familiar that even Quistis knew who wrote it. 

  **_'Rinoa.'_****__**

****

  She reluctantly picked up the white envelope, slowly opening it.

  _'Rinoa,_

_         The yearly ball is next week. I hope you can make it._

_                                                 General Caraway.'_

Rinoa looked at the letter and laughed softly yet bitterly. "General Caraway. He can't even bear to say that he's my father."

  Trying to lighten Rinoa's mood, Quistis quickly averted her attention to the gift. "Rin, open this, I wonder what it is." Helpful, yes, but lame, because judging by its shape and weight, it was obviously a dress.

  A dress. Yes, but that was only half of the description. To be specific, it was a beautiful black dress. A 'V' neck in the front, a low back and diagonally cut from just above the right knee to the left ankle. It was so beautiful that it earned a little 'wow' from Quistis. But it did not faze Rinoa, sure she saw the beauty of it, but it was almost like it did not enter her mind that this was her dress if she chose to attend the ball. She couldn't even smile, the note hurt too much. 

  _'General Caraway.'_

And instantly, all the painful memories returned. 

                                        --------------------------------

  The maid softly knocked on the door of Squall's study room causing echoes along the hall ways.  

  "Come in."

  Once hearing his approval, the maid opened the door, taking only a few steps inside the room. "Sir, dinner is ready." She said nicely and respectfully.

  Squall nodded, "I'll be down there soon." And with that, the maid left Squall to his doings. 

  He finished off signing a few more confidential files before he carelessly piled them to the side of his table. He leaned back into his chair and stretched softly as he had signed non stop for an hour. His stomach made noises indicating that it was in need of food; therefore he obliged by making his way downstairs to the dining area. 

  To his annoyance, the phone's shrill rings interrupted his journey to the dinner table when he was just a few more meters away from it. Rolling his eyes slightly, he stopped in his tracks before turning around to grab the phone situated on a marble table near the entrance of the palace.

  "Hello?" he mumbled, showing obvious signs that he was completely uninterested.

  "Yo Squall, it's Zell!"

  _'Look who decides to call. The perverted asshole.' _Squall joked silently to himself as he allowed a slow smirk to spread on his face.

  "Um, is Ell, I mean Ellone there?" 

  Squall couldn't help but chuckle softly. "Why do you want her for?" he wanted to laugh, but he was able to keep his voice dead and serious. 

 "I um… I wanted to ask her if ah, if I could borrow her, ah, her… Why do _you care?!"_

  Squall simply wanted to drop the phone and laugh like crazy, but this game was way too fun. 

  "I don't." His voice dead and serious.

  "Good then. So where's Ellone?"

  "You still haven't told me why you want to speak to her."

  "But you just said you didn't care!" The blonde spiky haired man exclaimed on the other line.

  "Quite right, but not caring doesn't mean not wanting to know." Squall's voice still monotonous. 

  "_What!"_

  Squall's smirk was so wide now that it was almost like a smile. Almost.

  "Squall, is Ell even home?"

  "No."

  -Click-

  Squall mentally tapped himself on the back as he succeeded in pissing Zell off. 

  "Who was it Squall?" Ellone asked once the brunette entered the dining room and sat himself on the opposite end of the long table.

  "Just Zell."

  Her eyes widened immediately but hid it as quickly as it came.

  "Um, who was he looking for?"

  "You."

  "And you…?"

  "And I told him you weren't home and hung up."

  "WHAT! Why?"

  He merely shrugged. Instantly Ellone rose from the table protesting to Squall and at the same time, leaving the table. Her 'brother' merely sat there, picking up his utensils and began stabbing at his food. "Ugh, I know you can hear me. _Dad_, I'm finished with dinner, I'm going to make a phone call now."

  In a span of two seconds, Squall retorted, "Correction Ell, that's Uncle to you." And with that said, he resumed back to eating his dinner, hiding his small hint of amusement.

  "Hyne!" Ellone exclaimed in frustration before she hastily ran upstairs.

  Laguna, who was totally oblivious to the scene in front of him, placed his newspaper down only to have a look of cluelessness overpower his facial features. 

"Where's Ellone?"

                                                          * * *

An: Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Worry not to all the readers waiting for Squall and Rinoa to meet. I can assure you they will meet very soon. For the time being just bear with me okay? I always felt sorry for Zell for being left out, so in this story I've paired him up with Ellone! :) Anyway, thank-you so much for the reviews along with the compliments, they help big time. So go and review now and give me your opinions! Thanks, bye!

[SkyeLight]

lil_ole_meh@hotmail.com


	5. Hideout

_**Chapter 5**_

_**Café Squall's new hideout**_

The important thing is not to stop questioning.

_ -Albert Einstein- _

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'_General Caraway. He can't even bear to say that he's my father.'_

Quistis sat behind her desk in her little study room, recalling events in the past few days. She placed her mug of coffee on her table so it would allow her to freely lean back on her chair without the worry of spilling the hot substance. It had already been three days since she last visited Rinoa and she had heard nothing from her friend since then. She laughed softly but there was a hint of bitterness in her laugh, instantly she remembered the way Rinoa laughed when she read the note.

'_How could I have been so stupid to think that she was over it, though she did look it. But after the note, she seemed distant again.'_

As Quistis continued recalling fragments of events, everything lead her back to the car crash. She closed her eyes and rubbed them with her thumb and index finger. She was so confused. All she knew was that Rinoa was not over it and she _had _to help her. But how?

"_Quistis, are you in a hurry? Why are you driving to fast?"_

"_I'm not driving fast, I'm driving the speed limit, or maybe a bit over."_

"_Well slow down. If you're not in a hurry then don't drive so fast."_

Slowly Quistis opened her eyes again. Rinoa was normally a very alert driver, so why would she have crashed? Was she in a hurry? Why was she in a hurry? Where was she going?

All these questions flooded the blonde's mind and it made her head ache slightly. Suddenly the ringing of her home telephone brought her back to reality as she quickly reached for the handle.

"Hello?"

"What? She's not there?... I'm not sure… Yeah I'll pass that message on for you… Actually I'll come over right now… Okay, thanks Amy… Bye."

Quistis hurriedly got off her chair, placing the handle back on its receiver as she grabbed her car keys before heading out her study room door then out of her apartment. Unbeknown to her, she had knocked down her mug of coffee on her table during the rush seconds ago, spilling all the liquid on her desk.

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She pushed open the door to the little modern café where Rinoa worked and walked around to find herself a vacant seat. The café was well decorated being modern and cozy at the same time. It was not big, but it was enough to keep business going at a high rate. She found a vacant table by the large glass window overlooking the street outside and sat herself down.

A waitress walked up to her wearing a white t-shirt, a pair of jeans and a black apron. She had a pen in one hand and a little note book in the other as she smiled warmly down at Quistis.

"Hi, may I take your order?" She asked. Quistis was surprised that the waitress didn't recognized her seeing that she was always here because of Rinoa, but dismissed it straight away.

"Um, actually I was wondering if Am-,"

"Quistis! You're here!" Amy, the owner of the café, exclaimed whilst walking up to the blonde. The waitress knew at once that she was not needed there; therefore she excused herself and made her way to another table where a couple had just walked in.

"Amy, hi, how are you? How's business?"

"I'm fine and business is running along smoothly. How are you? Oh and how's Rin doing?" the 42 year old asked.

"I'm fine and Rinoa, she's, Amy that's what I've come to ask you about. You remember the night of that car pile up? Well I was wondering why Rin-," she was unable to complete her question as Amy interrupted her.

"Yes I remember. That night I remembered it was extra crowded in here since everyone just seemed to pile in because of the rain. We were practically running around trying to serve the people."

Quistis nodded for her to continue.

"After a while, Rin got a phone call and she went into the staff's lounge. I wasn't too happy about it only because we were already lacking the help but nevertheless, I ignored it. I didn't take much notice after that, but around about ten minutes later she came up to me and asked to leave. Accepting her excuse straight away, I could do nothing but let her go."

There was a slight pause while Quistis was trying to absorb all the information at once. But she found flaws, many flaws. The information Amy provided her with didn't seem to make much sense to her. She furrowed her brows in confusion.

"I hope Rin is doing okay with that fever of hers. Don't want her coming back to work when she's not ready hey doll?"

Quistis' brow furrowed deeper in less than 0.5 seconds, "Excuse me?"

"Yes hun?" Amy asked, smiling a warm smile for she did not notice the confused look on Quistis' face.

"You just said fever. What fever?"

'_Fever? What is going on? Does she not know about the car crash?'_

"Well you know, the fever poor Rinny's got at the moment. She was so pale when she came up to me to ask me to take the rest of the night off because of it. I just couldn't refuse." Suddenly a male's voice, who Quistis suspected him to be a long time customer, called for Amy, "Sorry darls, work calls. Order anything you like and just put it under my tab." And with that, she walked towards the customer.

After long minutes went by, Quistis was finally able to put a few pieces of the puzzle together.

'_There was no fever. She lied. The phone call, it must've brought her important news. She left because of the phone call. She was in a hurry. She crashed. The sudden change of her attitude seemed so much like the time when 'it' happened.' _

Slowly Quistis felt herself in arms length from reaching for the answer, but as soon as another question popped up, the arms length suddenly seemed out of reach once again.

'_So the car crash and change of attitude is related to 'that'. But closure was already brought to 'that' five years ago. What in Hyne's name did that phone call bring?'_

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The hot liquid spilled freely on his documents. Although if he had bothered, he would've been able to save the documents from their watery end, but then again, that was _if _he bothered. He cursed softly under his breath. Squall knew, he understood, so why did Hyne keep having to remind him? For Hyne's sake he knew he wasn't a morning person.

Calling it a day even though it had not even been two hours into work, Squall quickly dismissed the so called 'important' documents aside and leaned back against his chair, rubbing the area between his eyes. He took a quick glance at the soggy documents and couldn't help but think to himself what an idiot Laguna was. All these documents were mere confirmation about the enhancements concerning hospitals, health clinics etc. No, to be specific, they were re-confirmation. Less than two weeks ago, Squall recalled himself sitting in his office signing non-stop on these stupid documents.

Re-confirming crap like that simply wasn't on the 'I wanna waste my time on this' list for the brunette, yet Laguna still persistently insisted that these were important matters. Right, so these were important yet the Odine matter meant nothing to him. Squall shook his head and came to the conclusion of ignoring all the documents completely.

'_Laguna seriously has to expand his horizons.'_

A few gentle knocks on his office double doors snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Come in."

Margaret strolled into Squall's office with her regular heart warming smile on her face as her right arm held onto another set of documents. "Morning Mr. Leonhart. I've just been told to hand these over to you to sign. They're re-confirming the chan-,"

"Hyne no more please!" Squall begged exasperatedly, "I think I'm gonna die if I have to sign all these crap."

Margaret's eyes widened at the sight of the flooded documents, "Mr. Leonhart,"

"Squall, Margaret, you can call me Squall."

"Please do not tell me those are the re-confirming docu-,"

"Afraid so."

Immediately she placed the set of documents on his table and leaned over to see if she could revive the wet soggy things, but to her disappointment, all she did was rip them apart.

"Margaret, be a nice person and take the rest of these documents outside will you?"

She complied, but asked, "What am I going to say when President Loire asks for them?"

He sighed, "Just tell him I couldn't be screwed."

She couldn't help but smile, "Right, you were too busy."

"And if he just so happens to come by later on, which I highly doubt, just tell him I'm out of this hell hole for a while."

This time she giggled, "Got it, you've gone out to run some errands." And with that, she picked the documents up and started making her way out of his office. Before she left, Squall said, "You know, you're starting to become my new best friend." He joked with a little smirk on his face.

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He parked his car in a vacant space in the parking lot and turned his engine off as soon as his 'one-shot turn' parked his car perfectly in the space that was provided. Squall got out of his car and looked around him. The streets were crowded with people and the parks were filled with kids yet no one noticed him. No one seemed to stop in their tracks to stare at him or run up to him and question him, and that was why he came here.

He looked around him, clueless of what he was going to do next. Coincidentally, his car was parked right outside a café. The brunette had not bothered to change from his working suit so he still attracted quite a lot of attention from the female population. The thought of being recognized was definitely not one of his aims; therefore he quickly decided that the café would have to do.

He walked into the petite shop and was quite surprised to see the amount of people in it yet it was still able to hold a peaceful atmosphere. He quickly walked over to a table by the glass window and sat himself down, placing his car keys on the nicely polished wooden table. Not long later, an older woman with a black apron on approached him with a pen and note book in hand.

"Hey there darls, can I take your order?"

"Uh yeah, a latte thanks."

She smiled, "Anything else with that?"

Squall shook his head, "No, that will be it."

She smiled kindly at him before walking off and ripping the piece of paper from the notebook and handing it to one of the boys behind the counter. Squall looked around the café and knew that this was probably going to be one of his favorite hideouts. The place brought warmth, or maybe it was just the color. The place was filled with people, yet it did not seem crowded, and that was one of the main things Squall liked about this place. At least he knew he would not be in the spotlight as long as he was here. And what was also important to him was the peace and tranquil this place brought him.

This time a younger female came up to him, "Here you go, a latte and a chocolate muffin." Her eyes lingered on him as she spoke. She was the same girl who had tried to serve Quistis before.

"I didn't order a muffin."

She smiled at him, "You're a new face here, and normally new customers get a muffin on the house. At least that's Amy's rule." She fluttered her long lashes one to many times.

"Um okay, thanks."

He took his latte into his hands and began to drink it when he paused halfway and looked towards his left. The young, attractive blonde waitress still had not left; instead she stood there smiling down at him. His eyes shifted around for a split second before he diverted them to hers and asked, "Is there something wrong?"

She shook her head, "No, nothing, stud " She smiled flirtatiously at Squall, whispering the last word to herself although Squall heard it, before turning around and walked off towards the counter.

As he drank, thoughts of the Odine matter entered his mind. He shook them away instantly and simply told himself that he was going to get on to it once he got more conformation from Seifer.

One problem down. One more to go.

_The ball. _He was expected to go, not only by Laguna and Ellone, but by practically all the representatives and leaders from the other areas that knew him. But he really didn't want to go. Everyone there always had a false smile plastered to their face the entire night, their laughs and comments were no more than fake and suck ups and worst of all, he was forced to be one of them.

The women who attended these balls were always dressed in the skimpiest dresses and 80 of them always tried to catch Squall's attention. The food was crap, the drinks were crap, the people were crap, the atmosphere was crap, the dress code was crap, everything was crap.

But Squall was going.

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Rinoa sat on her bed as she waited impatiently for Quistis to pick up her cell phone. It had rung countless times yet she heard no signal of anyone connecting to her. Finally, just as she was about to hang up, she heard the voice of the person she wanted to speak to.

"Quistis! What took you so long to pick up?"

"I was in the car. And why aren't you at work today?"

'_How does she know?' _"I, um, I couldn't' be bothered," she voiced her lame excuse, "Anyway," trying to change the topic and get straight to the point, "After three days of serious thinking, I have decided, I am going to the ball."

There was silence.

"Oh, sorry, was that the queue for me to clap?"

"Quistis! You know that's really important to me and it was a really tough choice." Rinoa scolded.

Rinoa heard the soft giggles on the other line subside before Quistis began, "Okay sorry. Well good on you for being able to make your decision. Just out of curiosity, but you've never attended these balls for the past years, why now?" As soon as the question left her mouth, she wished that she had not asked it. But Rinoa's reaction surprised her.

The raven haired girl sighed, "Truthfully, I… I want to see him. I have the courage now. If I don't see him this time, Hyne knows how long 'till I get to see him again."

Quistis nodded to herself as a smile crept up her face. Although she was slightly worried about Rinoa's meeting with her father, she was still relieved and happy that she was able to pluck up the courage to meet him. Maybe the situation wasn't as bad as it seemed to be.

"BUT!" Rinoa's voice increased its volume slightly, snapping Quistis out of her thoughts.

"But what?"

"But… Quistis, we've been friends for many years now and I've always been by your side when you needed it, or more that you've been by my side and you know, I'm always so nice to you and patient and you know I would-,"

"RINOA! Just ask me the favor already!"

"Can you please go to the ball with me?" she pleaded.

Quistis somehow knew that was coming, she grumbled loud enough for Rinoa to hear, "Do I have to?"

"Well if you want to jeopardize our friendship, then feel free to not come with me."

Quistis could almost _hear _her smiling from the other line, "Well that leaves me a wide range of choices doesn't it Rin?" she asked sarcastically.

"Thanks Quis! I knew I could count on you! Well since we still have tomorrow before the ball, come over to my apartment and we'll discuss the other stuff. Thanks Quis!" and without waiting for Quistis' reply, Rinoa hung up.

Rinoa picked up the black dress delivered to her and placed it in front of her and looked at herself through the reflection of the mirror. Already she could feel the slight nervousness getting to her, but quickly ignored it.

'_I just know that this ball is going to have a big impact on my life, one way or the other.'_

Little did she know the confusion, tears, closure but most importantly, the happiness that will be brought to her after the ball.

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An: I know that the past few chapters have been a little depressing, but things are starting to lighten up because Squall and Rinoa are gonna meet soon!! Thank you so much for the reviews. It is so important to me to hear your opinions. Well anyway, please review!


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